Mounting for awnings



April 23, 1957 w. I. SMITH 2,789,634

MOUNTING FOR AWNINGS Filed NOV. 4, 1954 ATTORN ET;

United States Patent O 2,739,534 ounrmo FOR AWNINGS William 1. Smith, Perrysburg, Ohio, assignor to The Hettrick Manufacturing Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio A pli ation o mb 1954, S rial N 56,767 1 Claim. (21. rein-s This invention relates to awnings of flexible sheet material, but more particularly to awnings of the type equipped with substantially U-shaped supports or mountings at the lower end portions, and an object is to produce a new and improved awning. of this type of more attractive and unusual. appearance and in which the side rods are exposed and bear ornamental features enhancing the effect as well as having features reducing the cost of manufacture and simplifying the assembly of the parts.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will here inafter appear, and, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of an awning equipped with a novel combined support and ornamentatron;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the supporting rod having the ornamentation features;

Figure 4 is a sectional view substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

' Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the lower portion of the awning with the support rod removed.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises an awning of flexible sheet material such as canvas and has a downwardly and forwardly inclined body panel 10, to the opposite side edges of which are disposed substantially triangularly shaped wings 11 secured to the body panel by a sewed seam 11a. The lower edge portion of the body panel hangs vertically and has a scalloped edge and the bottom edge of each of the side wings 11 similarly is scalloped as indicated at 12, thus to enhance the appearance of the awning.

For supporting the top edge of the body panel 10 is a transverse supporting rod 13 which extends through a horizontal pocket 14. The rod 13 may be attached to the building structure as will be readily understood.

At the lower edge portion of the body panel 10 and as indicated, a horizontally elongate pocket 16 is formed by sewing to the underside a horizontal strip of fabric by two vertically spaced horizontal seams, thereby to provide a pocket open at both ends to receive a metallic rod 15. The rod 15 is somewhat shorter than the horizontal dimension of the body panel 10 and fitting over opposite ends t of the rod 15 are metallic sleeves 17. Only about one half the sleeve is slipped over the rod end for a purpose hereinafter to be described. Thus the rod stiffens the lower portion of the awning and cooperates with other parts to be described for holding the awning in the desired position of use.

Disposed along the lower portion of each side wing 11 is a horizontal metallic rod 18, which at the front end has an integral right angle extension 19 which extends through a hole in the front edge portion of the wing to extend into the horizontal pocket 16 of the main body panel. A portion of the sleeve 17 also slips over the adjacent end of the extension 19. At the rear end of the rod 18 and attached to the building is a clevis 21 thereby to provide a tietehted Apr 2.3 1

piv tal connection between the rod and the building and enable the building to be raised upwardly or to a position out o use! F xed to each of the rods 18, it being understood that the sil'lifii'l is th S me on both sides of the awning, is a plur lity of downwardly bowed wires 22. The opposite ends of the wires 22 are Welded to the bottom of the ad-. jacent rod 18. Afi shown. three such archaic wires 22 are provided and covering ea h of. the welds is. a metall c ornament which may be of rosette shape, and as indicated on Figure 4, each ornament 24 is welded to the exposed side portion of the rod 18. In this manner, the various welds between the wires 22 and the rod 18 are covered.

In order to hold the side panels 11 of the awning to the rods 18 to prevent flapping, pairs of grommets 25 are applied to the side wings 11 directly in rear of the rod 18, a pair of grommets being provided adjacent the two central ornaments 24 and a string or tie 27 is looped about the adjacent ends of the archaic wires 22 in back of the ornament 24 and passed through the grommets 25 and tied on the inside of the respective wing 11, as indicated on Figure 2. At the extreme rear end portion of each side wing 11 and aligned with the grommets 25 is a grommet 26 which is engaged by a wire hook member 28 which has an end portion looped over the clevis bolt thus to hold the inner portion of the awning in the desired position.

It will be observed that the ornamentation which consists primarily of the archaic wires 22 and the rosette or medallion 24 in the main are disposed below the rod and only a small portion projects above the rod. This arrangement of parts is to enable the upward swinging of the assembly which includes the rods 18, the extensions 19, sleeves 17 and transverse rod 15. Thus when the awning is swung upwardly to its inoperative position when not in use, the ornamentation is so arranged as not to interfere with such movement or in any way restrict it.

From the above description, it will be manifest that I have produced an awning support which can be readily and simply applied in position of use and which eliminates the necessity of having the usual sewed pockets on the side wings for the reception of the side rods 18 and thus eliminates that expense in manufacture. It further eliminates the weakening of the side wall occasioned by the rows of stitching required for this purpose. The grommets can be very simply and inexpensively applied. Another important feature is the ornamentation provided by the exposed rods on which various forms of decorative pieces may be simply applied. These rods with the decoration may be colored as by enamel in any suitable way so as to have a contrasting color with that of the awning itself. As above mentioned, it is further important that any ornamentation or decorative insignia must in the main be disposed below the side rods so as not to interfere with the raising of the awning to its inoperative position.

The slip joints between the sleeves 17 and ends of the rod 15 and extensions 19 enable the wings 11 to be folded inwardly and the awning assembly rolled up for storage and shipping purposes.

Numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement, and choice of materials may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the appended claim.

What I claim is:

An awning having a downwardly and forwardly inclined body panel and vertical side wings of flexible material, said awning having a mounting therefor at the lower end portion comprising an open-ended pocket extending across the inner side of said body panel, said side wings having openings therethrough respectively registering with the open ends of said pocket, a straight horizontal rod engaged in said pocket, said rod being shorter than said pocket, a pair of L-shaped side rods each comprising a stem portion and a foot portion, each of said side rods having the stern portion thereof disposed horizontally on the outer side of aside wingabove the lower-edge there-' of and the foot portion extending through the opening in the side wing and engaged'in the adjacent open end of the pocket, coupling sleeves respectively connecting the (foot portions of said side rods and an adjacent end of said horizontal rod, at least one grommet on each of said side wings disposed behind the respective stern portions'of said horizontal .rods and intermediate the ends thereof,-a mask ing medallion afiixed on each of said stern portions and arranged over the grommets substantially to conceal the same, bowed wires depending from said stem portions and secured thereto behind the medallions, and tie strings having loops passing'over said wires adjacent the points of securement thereof to the respective stem portions, said loops passing underthe-adjacent medallions between said wires, said tie strings thence being secured through said grommets, whereby to anchorsaid side wings to the stem portions of said rods.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Fogh May' 20, 1930 

